


Light Up the Night

by Blinding_Comet



Category: Final Fantasy Versus XIII - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst, Dark, Fighting, Gen, Implied Attraction, Name Changes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22257871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blinding_Comet/pseuds/Blinding_Comet
Summary: The streets of Lucis were empty on the night before the treaty signing, that didn't stop a rebellious royal from sneaking out of the palace to get a better view of the sky from atop buildings. Nor did it stop the person who had followed him.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4





	Light Up the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, some things before you read,
> 
> -Noctis' name has been changed to Ciel  
> -This is a reimagining of his and Stellas first meeting  
> -What little canon available has been slightly altered, including personalities
> 
> Shout out to:  
> @freyamikasa on Tumblr for requesting this  
> and  
> @wh3n1s on Tumblr for beta reading it

It was a cold night in Lucis, though there was little wind, and it was far from winter. The moon was nearly full and the streets were empty. Ciel could feel the magic as it crackled through the air. Although he didn't know exactly why, he was standing on a roof of a local pub, staring at that big damn circle in the sky, his fists clenched.

It wasn’t until he felt a presence behind him that he turned, summoning his weapon. He wasn’t supposed to be up here, and on the off chance this wasn’t one of his guards looking for him, a show of aggression was necessary.

He didn’t lower his weapon as his eyes found a small figure in a white robe with the hood pulled up. They simply stood there while he raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Slowly the person hooked their hands around the hood and pushed it back. 

Her blonde hair was pulled back into a single braid, her eyes were a tad wide but he didn’t linger there, instead opting to gaze at the light pink gloss that covered her lips, and for a moment that's all he could focus on, the perfect curve of her lips.

Making a noise akin to a scoff, she spoke, “My eyes are up here,” her tone was teasing and yet, it somehow held an edge. 

“Ah,” he looked down for a moment before gathering his bearings and he lowered his blade. “I apologize...“ the words come out a mumble as he tried to hide his face with one hand. 

When he dared to look back: he did find her eyes as she requested. The pale purple mixed with blue and gray, they were like galaxies and he a lone man with limited air supply, He lost himself in them for a moment. And she let him, she hadn't made a noise the entire time, keeping a peaceful expression on her face. 

With a stab, he realized that she knew what she was doing. Was entirely aware of how mesmerizing she was. Coughing, he tore himself from her gaze, avoiding it at all costs… she outshined the moon and the stars, and that was dangerous. 

It was only then that he took notice of the air, it felt light… not filled just with magic anymore, but something else, something like the light he could see.

Opening his mouth, the last thing he wanted to say came out in an even tone, “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“Neither are you,” she smiled coyly, walking slowly towards the place where he was standing. 

She sought the light he was looking for but found none. “You’re looking in the wrong place.”

Following her form confusingly, he gestured his armed hand away, “What do you mean?”

“You don't…?” she began questioning before stopping. Holding out her hand she gently said, “It will be easier to show you, come with me.”

He backed away while holding his other arm out in front of him, not trusting this starry woman, or her honeyed words. 

“You don’t trust me?” her eyes widened a fraction in wonder, as her lower lip pouted. He decided to focus on her nose as it was the safest.

In the next moment, she laughed. “Your eyes are narrowing,” she explained when he looked curiously at her, all while she still tried to contain her giggles.

His mouth hung open for a solid second in shock that she could just laugh at him like that. Only his friends dared to do that, and not even when he had a sword out. Speaking of such a thing: she saw him summon that right? She must have some idea of who he is. 

“Of course I don't trust you, I don’t know you,” he retorted. 

Rolling her eyes and stopping her foot impatiently, she introduced herself. “Princess Stella Nox Fleuret of Tenebrae. At your service.” She made a point to put one leg behind the other as she bowed deeply, smirking while rising from the action.

Swallowing Ciel, started, “Then you know…”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Stella winked, “Trust me now?” she batted her eyelashes, he was instantly aware of how long they were.

Not feeling confident in how his voice would sound, he nodded and dismissed his sword.

In the next second, Stella seized his wrist and pulled up her hood while leading him down the streets. Dully, he wondered why she was wearing a cloak, let alone a white one. No one was out at this hour and the bright color clashed horribly with the dark tones of the cities architecture.

\/

It took some time, and a couple of different roofs, but Stella was a stubborn woman, and soon enough she found what she was looking for. Practically beaming up into the night sky, she pointed, proclaiming, “There.”

Setting his eyes upon the site, Ciel tilted his head to the side as a wave of light moved onto the heavens. The way it stretched and shrunk reminded him of a very determined caterpillar on its way to form a cocoon. Soon enough it was gone, vanished to where ever.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Stella asked in a joyous manner, clasping her hands in front of her. 

What? Ciel thought, someone just died for a light to disappear like that. Eyeing her from the side, he wondered what exactly was wrong with her.

“This is the part where you say, ‘but not as beautiful as you,’” she joked lightly, brushing off her past comment.

Setting his uneasiness aside, he chose to get right to the point. “So, you had a near-death experience as well?”

It was her turn to look down now, “Yes...”

Deciding not to push it, he chose a more philosophical way for conversation. “Do you ever think … we’re not who we’re meant to be?”

Her breathing stopped, eyes glossy as she fixated on another light moving on in the sky, she replied in a monotone voice, “No, my path is set, it was decided a long time ago.”

“How can you be so sure?” he pressed on, “Anyone could have ended up in our positions.”

“And why does that matter, we’re here _now,_ ” she glared openly, taking her hood down. 

He looked away as another light in the sky went beyond before it dawned on him: this wasn’t a normal thing. People didn’t just drop dead within two minutes of each other, something was horribly wrong. Upon checking his whereabouts, he realized that he was really nowhere near the palace, but the direction they were staring at was directly where it was.

“Do you wish things were different?” Stella suddenly asked softly.

His heart pounded in his chest, vision tunneled, magick visibly crackled the very air around him, “What did you do?” he all but snarled while backing away as far as the building would allow him. 

Her white cloak swaying in the wind, braided hair lashing out from behind, she didn’t turn to look at him. “Nothing that didn’t have to be done.”

“The peace treaty was doomed from the start,” she snapped, whipping her whole body around to stare at Ciel menacingly.

“Lucis has hoarded their power for far too long,” she continued, “I am apart of the elite who will bring yours down...” an amalgamation of symbols weave themselves together behind her in a fiery orange light. A rapier appeared in her right hand, she proceeded to slash it down in front of her, “and nothing is going to stop me.”

Clenching his teeth, he began to do the same with his magic, light blue danced behind him, creating intricate patterns in the opposite manner as hers. He settled himself before getting into a battle position, “We’ll see about that.”

=

He wished for a lot of things right now. One of those things was a sleep spell, because holy Bahamut, could this woman _move_. Unless she was casting something she never _stopped_ moving. They were both blurs as they weaved around each other. Their blades only meeting a fraction of the time. Their battle, much like the continuous stream of souls that spread throughout the sky; lit up the night.

Seeing an opening, he hooked the tip of his blade into the handle of her rapier. That didn’t stop her from jumping back immediately, slicing her wrist. She hissed at the small amount of pain while blood soaked through the sleeve of her snow colored cloak. She began prepping a spell to close the wound, but Ciel stayed on her, moving in close as she was distracted; he aimed for her legs this time, just as he finished making his mark, she drug the tip of her weapon up his cheek, the cut was shallow, and he dodged before she got to his eye. Crouched on the road in the center of the city, wetness dripped down from the open wound. He breathed heavily, while she clenched her leg from underneath her garment, now sporting red splotches, attempting a healing spell once again.

He felt himself began casting something, though it was a far cry from restoration magic. Blue lighting whirled down on Stella with ferocity as she began working on her wounds, it corrupted her magics process, slithering into her bloodstream, illuminating from the inside of her body to beyond it, it was only then that she truly screamed. 

Ciel went in for the kill now, but she raised her rapier to block the attack; it glowed blue and shot a sheen of pure electricity out of it. He was blown back, body smacking into a brick wall ten feet above the ground. As he fell, a fireball smashed into where he was mere moments ago, creating a crater in the structure. Landing on his stomach, he grabbed his sword in front of him, grunting as he pushed himself up a little despite the shakiness in his vision and vibration in his veins.

A high heel stomping down on his sword hand caused him to yell out of pain and release his weapon. “Stay down,” Stella warned, orange magic congregating behind her, as she held a flame in her free hand. Ciel put his hands and head down in submission. Once he felt the pressure on his hand subside, he lunged forward, raking his fingers on the barely healed gash he inflicted upon her.

She gasped and shrilled as the pain hit her, the fire in her hand went out, and she dropped her rapier as she stumbled back, fully releasing his hand. Ciel used this time and grabbed his weapon. She looked up just in time to see the blade fly past her, grazing her cheek, and nearly catching on the lowered hood of her outfit.

She swayed on her feet, cupped her hands in front of her mouth, and yelled, “You missed!” in a mocking tone.

He ran at her, turning into a transparent force as he got closer until she thought he was going to phase through her. A moment later, he appeared to have completely vanished, it was then that Stella felt his body slam her back into the wall. She was pinned against him, his hand around the sword in the stone next to her head. They both breathed heavily, her galaxy eyes were wide with shock, reflecting the vague blue light around him. His red rose eyes were narrowed with determination and hatred. 

“Stay down,“ he echoed her words like steel.

“Not a chance!” she snarled, shoving into him and ducking under as he flinched from her impact. 

Pulling his blade out of the wall, he turned and slashed up, creating a deep cut in her back, the red had spread over the cloak before she even fell. On her knees, with her back still to him, she leaned on her hands while groaning in pain. She heard the footsteps as he started towards her. He was just a few more away from her.

Abruptly, she stood, turned and shot a fireball point-blank at his midsection. He tumbled back, before falling all the way. She fell forward again, the pain finally winning. Her back felt so cold that it was hot. His torso burned as the fire went out on it, the skin turned an angry red before becoming deep charcoal.

Stella finally succumbed and laid flat on her stomach as Ciel tried to roll over in an attempt to keep going.

“ _I hate you,_ ” the young woman said in a low voice.

“I hate you too,” he retorted with just as much venom.

After it was all said and done, two more lights filled the night sky.


End file.
